UNRIC Library Backgrounder: Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – Selected Online Resources

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On 25 September 2015, a new set of global goals to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all as part of a new sustainable development agenda was adopted. Each goal has specific targets to be achieved over the next 15 years.

Sustainable Development Goals
http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/
Full list with targets
http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/

Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (A/RES/70/1)
http://undocs.org/A/RES/70/1
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld/publication

United Nations Sustainable Development Summit (New York, 25 – 27 September 2015)
https://www.un.org/en/conferences/environment/newyork2015
http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/summit/

Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform
https://sdgs.un.org/

United Nations SDG Action Campaign
https://sdgactioncampaign.org

UN Secretary-General: Our Common Agenda
https://www.un.org/en/common-agenda
Our Common Agenda is the Secretary-General’s vision for the future of global cooperation. It calls for inclusive, networked, and effective multilateralism to better respond and deliver for the people and planet and to get the world back on track by turbocharging action on the Sustainable Development Goals. It outlines possible solutions to address the gaps and risks that have emerged since 2015, calling for a Summit of the Future that will be held in 2024.

Websites of UN Entities on the SDGs

• General Assembly
  • Summit of the Future, 22-23 September 2024:
    https://www.un.org/en/summit-of-the-future
    • World leaders adopt pivotal UN Pact for the Future (UN News, 22 September 2024): https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/09/1154581
  • High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development under the auspices of the General Assembly (SDG Summit), 18-19 September 2023: https://www.un.org/en/conferences/SDGSummit2023
    • UN General Assembly adopts declaration to accelerate SDGs (UN News, 18 September 2023): https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/09/1140857
    • How the UN SDG Summit aims to transform the world (UN News, 18 September 2023): https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/09/1140852
  • Virtual High Level Thematic Debate on the Impact of Rapid Technological Change on the Sustainable Development Goals and Targets (11 June 2020): https://www.un.org/pga/74/event/the-impact-of-rapid-technological-change-on-the-sustainable-development-goals-and-targets/
  • SDG Summit 2019 (24-25 September 2019): https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgsummit
  • High-level Meeting on Financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, 24 September 2018:
    https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/financing-2030/
  • High-Level Event “Financing for SDGs – Breaking the Bottlenecks of Investment, from Policy to Impact”, 11 June 2018: https://www.un.org/pga/72/event-latest/financing-the-sustainable-development-goals/
  • Inspiring initiatives, partnerships and action to drive SDG implementation: Strategic Plan of the Office of the President of the General Assembly: http://www.un.org/pga/71/2016/11/08/sdg-implementation-strategy/
  • High-Level Event on Education, 28 June 2017: https://bit.ly/2tpcWE3
  • High-Level SDG Event “Climate Change and the Sustainable Development Agenda”, 23 March 2017: https://bit.ly/2nqVQES
  • High Level Dialogue: Building Sustainable Peace for All – Synergies between the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Sustaining Peace, 24 January 2017: https://bit.ly/2kL5WfU
  • High Level Thematic Debate on Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals,
    New York, 21 April 2016: http://www.un.org/pga/70/events/sdgs/
• Economic and Social Council
  • Our Goals – Achieving Sustainable Development: https://www.un.org/ecosoc/en/sustainable-development
  • High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development: https://hlpf.un.org/
    

• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
  • Sustainable Development Goals Helpdesk:
    https://www.fao.org/sustainable-development-goals-helpdesk/en
• International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
  • Sustainable Development Goals: https://www.iaea.org/about/overview/sustainable-development-goals
• International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
  • ICAO and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: http://www.icao.int/about-icao/aviation-development/Pages/SDG.aspx
• International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
  • IFAD and the SDGs: https://www.ifad.org/en/ifad-and-the-sdgs
• International Labour Organization (ILO)
  • Decent work and the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development: http://www.ilo.org/global/topics/sdg-2030/lang–en/index.htm
• International Monetary Fund (IMF)
  • Sustainable Development Goals: https://www.imf.org/en/Topics/SDG
• International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
  • ICTs for a Sustainable World #ICT4SDG:
    http://www.itu.int/en/sustainable-world/Pages/default.aspx
• Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
  • Human Rights and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development:
    https://www.ohchr.org/en/sdgs
  • SDG-Human Rights Data Explorer: https://sdgdata.humanrights.dk/
• UN Women
  • The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development:
    https://www.unwomen.org/en/how-we-work/2030-agenda-for-sustainable-development  
• United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
  • Trade and the Sustainable Development Goals: http://unctad.org/
    en/Pages/About%20UNCTAD/UNCTAD-and-the-Global-Goals.aspx
  • SDG Pulse: https://sdgpulse.unctad.org/
• United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
  • Sustainable Development Goals – The SDGs in Action: http://www.undp.org/sustainable-development-goals.html
• United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)
  • Africa SDGs Progress Dashboard: https://ecastats.uneca.org/unsdgsafrica/SDGs/SDG-progress
• United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)
  • UNECE and the SDGs: https://unece.org/unece-and-sdgs
• United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)
  • 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development:
    http://www.cepal.org/en/topics/2030-agenda-sustainable-development
• United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
  • 2030 Agenda Overview: http://www.unescap.org/2030-agenda
• United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA)
  • The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: https://www.unescwa.org/focus/2030-agenda
• United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT)
  • UN-HABITAT for the Sustainable Development Goals:
    https://unhabitat.org/about-us/sustainable-development-goals
• United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
  
  • Sustainable Development Goals: https://www.unep.org/explore-topics/sustainable-development-goals
  • United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA): https://www.unep.org/environmentassembly/
• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
  • UNESCO and Sustainable Development Goals: https://www.unesco.org/en/sdgs
• Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
  • Sustainable Development Goals:
    https://www.unhcr.org/sustainable-development-goals
• United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
  • The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: https://www.unicef.org/sustainable-development-goals
  • SDG teaching tools & child-friendly materials: https://www.unicef.org/sdgs/resources
• United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
  • UNIDO and the Sustainable Development Goals: https://www.unido.org/unido-sdgs
• United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)
  • UNITAR and the Sustainable Development Goals:
    https://www.unitar.org/sustainable-development-goals
• United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (OOSA)
  • Space Supporting the Sustainable Development Goals (Space4SDGs): http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/space4sdgs/index.html
• United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
  • The Sustainable Development Goals: https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/sustainable-development-goals/index.html
• United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
  • UNFPA & the Sustainable Development Goals: http://www.unfpa.org/sdg
• United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC)
  • Knowledge Centre for Sustainable Development: https://www.unssc.org/campuses/bonn-campus
• United Nations University (UNU)
  • The Global Goals for Sustainable Development: http://unu.edu/
• United Nations Volunteers (UNV)
  • Volunteerism and the Global Goals:
    https://www.unv.org/volunteerism-and-global-goals
• World Bank
  • Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda:
    http://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/sdgs-2030-agenda
• World Food Programme (WFP)
  • Ending Hunger: https://www.wfp.org/ending-hunger
• World Health Organization (WHO)
  • Monitoring health for the SDGs: https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/themes/world-health-statistics
• World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
  • Sustainable Development Goals: https://wmo.int/activities/sustainable-development-goals
• World Trade Organization (WTO)
  • The WTO and the Sustainable Development Goals: https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/coher_e/sdgs_e/sdgs_e.htm
• World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
  • Tourism in the SDG Agenda: https://www.unwto.org/tourism-in-2030-agenda

• United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Statistics Division
  • Sustainable Development Goal indicators website: http://unstats.un.org/sdgs/
• Joint SDG Fund: https://jointsdgfund.org/

Further information

• UN News Centre on the SDGs: https://news.un.org/en/news/topic/sdgs
• UN System SDG Implementation Database: https://sdgs.un.org/UNSDGimplementation
• SDG Stimulus: https://www.un.org/en/sdg-stimulus
• The costs of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (UNCTAD): https://unctad.org/sdg-costing
• SDGs in local languages: https://unric.org/en/sdgs-in-your-language/
• UNOG Library Research Guide: Sustainable Development Goals – Resources: http://libraryresources.unog.ch/sdgs

Publications & Documents

• Sustainable Development Goals Report 2025: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2025/
• Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals: Report of the Secretary-General (A/80/81-E/2025/62, 29 April 2025): https://docs.un.org/A/80/81
• The Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The Gender Snapshot 2024: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/gender-snapshot/2024/
• United in Science 2024 (WMO): https://wmo.int/publication-series/united-science-2024
• Atlas of Sustainable Development Goals 2023: https://datatopics.worldbank.org/sdgatlas/
• Global Sustainable Development Report 2023 – Times of Crisis, Times of Change: Science for Accelerating Transformations to Sustainable Development: https://sdgs.un.org/gsdr/gsdr2023
• United Nations Secretary-General’s SDG Stimulus to Deliver Agenda 2030 (February 2023): https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/4005810
• Bringing Data to Life : SDG human impact stories from across the globe (1 August 2022): https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2022/SDG2022_Flipbook_final.pdf
• Migration and the 2030 Agenda: A Guide for Practitioners (IOM, September 2018): http://www.migration4development.org/sites/default/files/en_sdg_web.pdf
• 2030 Agenda (UN Chronicle, Vol. LV, No. 2, August 2018): https://www.un.org/en/issue/370
• 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: A New Path for Development (Ministers Reference Book 2017): https://www.un.org/ecosoc/sites/www.un.org.ecosoc/files/files/en/2017doc/ecosoc.pdf
• Transitioning from the MDGs to the SDGs (UNDP / World Bank, November 2016): https://www.undp.org/publications/transitioning-mdgs-sdgs
• United Nations E-Government Survey 2016: E-Government in Support of Sustainable Development (DESA / DPADM): https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/reports/un-e-government-survey-2016
• 17 Sustainable Development Goals 17 Partnerships (DESA): http://bit.ly/1GGeZaL
• Getting Started with the Sustainable Development Goals: A Guide for Stakeholders (UNSDSN, December 2015): http://bit.ly/1nGDTyB
• Implementing the 2030 Agenda: The Challenge of Conflict (UN Chronicle, Vol. LII, No. 4, 2015): https://www.un.org/en/issue/379
• Sustainable Development Goals are in sync with Africa’s priorities (Africa Renewal, December 2015): https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/issue/december-2015

14 July 2025
not an official document – for information only
https://unric.org/en/unric-library-backgrounder-sdgs/